The Anomaly Within
by Alice I
Summary: New Dawn is over, or is it? Connor has gone from the lowest point in his personal & professional life to the highest point, but something just isn't sitting right with him. Every time he looks at Matt, his stomach churns uncomfortably. He knows he is missing something; something huge, something important, something so obvious that he simply can't see it, but it changes everything.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **The Anomaly Within _- I had a terrible time coming up with a title for this story. I did some reading on the importance of titles and how to go about deciding on one. This is a play on words. There is a very famous book called The Enemy Within (also the title of another story I wrote BTW) It seemed to fit quite well given the nature of the internal struggle of Connor Temple in this story._

**Author:** Alice I

**Betas:** Kes Cross, Wild Force Ranger

**Spoilers:** Up to and through Series 5 of Primeval

**Summary:** New Dawn is over, or is it? Connor Temple has gone from the lowest point in his personal and professional life to the highest point, but something just isn't sitting right with him. Every time he looks at Matt, his stomach churns uncomfortably. He knows he is missing something; something huge, something important, something so obvious that he simply can't see it, _but_ it changes everything.

**Warnings:** None; now that the Lemon scene has been deleted from the story.

**Disclaimer:** It's fan fiction - standard disclaimer. All characters belong to the creators of Primeval. No original characters in this story.

**A/N:** I wrote this story a year ago after watching the final season of Primeval, but was going to wait to post it, wanting to finish other WIPs. Well a year has past and I don't want to wait any longer.

This story takes place immediately following the last episode of series 5. It is written as an open ended story much the same way a series premiere episode would be. This is my take on what would happen next, so I guess you could say this is Episode 1 of Series 6 as told by me. This story is complete and I will be posting chapters every couple of days after a final read through.

**The Anomaly Within**

**Chapter One**

The New Dawn anomaly was closed, but the clean-up after the convergence proved to be an ongoing task that would keep the ARC teams busy for some time to come. So many anomalies had opened during the convergence and the creature incursions occurring all over the country, let alone the rest of the world, were still wreaking havoc everywhere. Great Britain had a distinct advantage in that respect having consciously dealt with the issue for the past six years. Abby couldn't help but feel some concern for all of the other countries who would be reeling with the after-effects of this phenomenon. Connor had quipped that it would be strange to have life go back to normal when it was considered that Phillip's machine had closed the anomalies for good. Even if that had turned out to be true, which of course it hadn't, there were still hundreds of creatures roaming the country displaced in time that needed to be rounded up and dealt with. It occurred to Abby that her job working with the menagerie was about to become a lot more difficult and time consuming.

She wished that such simple thoughts continued to occupy her mind as she drove back to the ARC after the team dealt with the first anomaly to open at Kings Cross after New Dawn. Instead her thoughts remained a jumbled quagmire as she tried to understand what had changed so dramatically with Connor's mood in the space of a couple of hours. When they left for Kings Cross he was almost jubilant, but that had changed and she didn't really understand why.

They had to go through the anomaly at Kings Cross to find a passenger train that had disappeared into thin air only to end up in the late Cretaceous era. It didn't help that a herd of Giganotosaurus' decided to charge the new arrival, throwing the engineer into a state of paralyzing fear and disbelief.

The train had veered to the side as it crossed through the anomaly, no longer having any tracks to follow. The passengers were making the situation far worse as they screamed hysterically which Abby was sure assured the attention of the G-rex herd. Connor had obviously realized the gravity of the situation and didn't even hesitate. He ran back through the anomaly and moments later a black SUV came crashing through at high speed headed straight for the heard. Abby thought that her heart would fail right then as she watched Conner charge the heard of predators blaring the horn. Becker took advantage of the distraction and he along with Matt and Emily began herding the passengers back toward the anomaly.

Abby, however stood in abject horror as she watched Connor. When he was only a hundred yards from the leader of the pack, he veered sharply to the left bringing the vehicle up on two wheels. A scream ripped from her throat as she watched, terrified that the vehicle to roll and trap him, but he turned the front wheel still on the ground and righted the SUV as it peeled off away from the train with the heard of G-rex's changing direction and following him.

Abby lost sight of the SUV after the heard turned in pursuit, and it took her several long moments to respond to Matt's calls.

"Abby! He's given us a chance to save these people! Let's not waste it, yeah?"

Casting one last look at the retreating herd of G-Rex's Abby turned toward the panicked crowd of passengers helping to get them back through the anomaly. It took nearly half an hour to get everyone off the train and back through to Kings Cross, all the while Abby kept glancing back toward the direction that Connor had led the herd of Giganotosaurus' hoping against hope that she would see the black SUV re-appear over the horizon.

Once the last of the traumatized civilians were back through the anomaly, Matt took hold of Abby's arm. "It's time to go, Abby."

She yanked her arm away from Matt angrily. "I won't leave him here, Matt. You should know that."

Matt sighed. "I know, but you can't stay here. What if the herd comes back?"

"I'm not leaving!"

Becker walked up to her with a hard look on his face. "We're leaving now. You know the rules, Abigail."

"I don't give a damn about the rules. You can go back, I'm waiting for him."

Becker made to grab Abby to force her back through the anomaly, but she anticipated the move and stepped lithely out of his reach, bringing her EMD up and pointing it at him. "I don't want to shoot you, Becker, but so help me I will if you come one step closer."

Her actions brought the soldier up short. He raised his hands in the air and backed up a step. "Abby, please, be reasonable."

Before she could answer Emily stepped back through the anomaly. "What's going on? We have a crowd of traumatized..." her words died away as she took in the view of Abby pointing her weapon at Matt and Becker.

"I'll not leaving my fiancé here to die alone. I've survived here before, I will again. I... Am... Not... Leaving... Him!"

"I'd listen to her if I were you."

Abby spun around dropping her weapon at the sound of the voice behind her.

"Connor!" She launched herself at him wrapping her arms around his neck. "What happened? Are you alright? Where is the herd? How did you get away?"

Her rapid fire questions were interrupted by Becker's voice. "Where's my truck?"

"I led the Giganotosaurus' to a herd of Brachiosaurs. Sorry Becker, the truck was a lot more interesting than I was. As your truck and the Brachiosaurs kept the G-rex's busy I was able to slip away."

"Two trucks in one day. That must be some kind of record!" Becker complained as he threw his hands up in the air.

It was then that Abby noted the thin trickle of blood running down the side of Connor's face from a cut along his hair line. He was dirty, and bruised, but alive. A roar from not too far away brought their attention to their immediate surroundings.

"Can we please go now?" Becker intoned in a long suffering voice.

The others didn't need any further prodding. They moved through the anomaly and stepped out onto the tracks at Kings Cross. Connor immediately turned his attention to the locking mechanism while the rest of them began shepherding the stunned passengers into an organized group.

Abby found herself torn between being impressed by her fiancé's selfless bravery and angry with him for taking such a foolhardy risk with his life. As the adrenaline drained away, it left her feeling slightly shaky. Working beside Emily to calm a young mother clinging to her two toddlers, she kept glancing over at Connor who was staring at Matt with a strange, faraway look on his face. Something about the way he was staring at the team leader made Abby feel anxious.

Emily noticed Abby's distraction, nudging her shoulder. "I've got this. Go check on Connor."

"Thank's Emily." Abby didn't need to be told twice.

When she walked over to him, he seemed distracted as he squatted down, his eyes focused no longer on Matt, but on the ground. She didn't miss the fine tremor along his jaw and it began to concern her.

"You should get that cut on your head seen to by the medic."

Connor didn't answer her as he stared blankly at a puddle tracing, with his eyes, the ripples that appeared when he tossed a small pebble into the center of it. Abby squatted down next to him.

"Hey, you feeling alright?" She asked, as she gently traced her fingers down the side of his face.

He turned toward her as though he had just noticed her presence. Becker gave up trying to calm the frightened passengers, leaving that task to Matt and Emily as he stepped over to Abby and Connor.

"You about ready to pack it up?" he asked them. "I've got two men watching the anomaly until it closes. Lester's already dispatched a team of social workers or some such thing to debrief the passengers and make sure they're seen to for shock, and you should get that head looked at, Connor."

Connor stood up slowly but his eyes never left the puddle as the ripples began to die away. He tossed a second pebble into the water and again stared at it in rapt attention. Abby and Becker exchanged a confused glance at the odd behavior of their colleague. Abby moved closer to Connor and could see the shining light from the closed anomaly reflected in the water, giving the ripples an odd sort of life as they in turn reflected the shimmer. Connor tossed yet another pebble into the water not far from the center of the existing concentric ripples, causing new ripples to form that intersected with the established pattern. He tossed a fourth pebble in, causing even more ripples. Abby could see his mind working. He hadn't been staring blankly at the water at all; he was working out some complicated idea or possibly a mathematical equation.

Becker watched the process, but unlike Abby he didn't cotton on to what Connor was thinking.

"What's he doing? How hard did he hit his head?"

Abby didn't actually know what Connor was on to, only that he was trying to piece something together. "He's thinking," she replied, trying to sound confident, but the look on Becker's face told her that concern was showing in her own face.

"Hey, Connor. You ready to head back?"

The only response Becker got was Connor tossing another pebble into the puddle. Abby could see Becker's patience wearing thin. She stepped up to him and touched his shoulder, feeling the tension in his muscles like a taut bow string vibrating, not unlike the ripples in the puddle.

"Connor, it's been a long day. What's say we head back, yeah?"

Connor tore his eyes away from the water to look at Abby, clearly struggling to get his head out of whatever train of thought had captured him. "Yeah... uh yeah."

Whatever Connor was thinking about drew his mind back to his internal puzzle and his eyes moved back to the puddle. Becker had clearly reached the end of his patience. He was ready to get the group moving back to the ARC. It had been an impossibly long day and there was still more to do. None of the teams would be going home until the creature incursions had been dealt with. Any paperwork and reports concerning the convergence and the destruction of the Prospero power plant could wait until another day. He stepped into the puddle cutting off the path of the ripples in the water and got right into Connor's face.

"Time to go."

Connor snapped out of the almost trance like state he was in and looked up at Becker as if seeing him for the first time.

"Oh... uh, yeah. Sorry. Just thinkin'."

Connor glanced over at the closed anomaly and caught sight of Matt, his face clouding with confusion mixed with a healthy dose of uneasiness. Abby had the very distinct impression that there was something about Matt that was upsetting Connor down to his core, but for the life of her she couldn't imagine what that could be. Suddenly Connor nodded his head as if coming to a conclusion. "Right." He grabbed his gear and moved off toward the vehicle leaving Becker and Abby to stare after him in stunned silence.

Becker raised his hands up, clearly baffled. "What was that all about?"

Abby never took her eyes off Connor. "I wish I knew," she said, turning to follow him to the vehicles.

Considering the emotional and physical scope of the day it wasn't surprising that everyone was tired and completely spent. Connor was quiet, but something about his mood was bothering Abby. He had reached the lowest point in his professional life as well as the highest over the course of the day. Earlier that same day the lost look on his face and the utterly defeated tone of his voice telling her and Matt to go back through the New Dawn anomaly without him still gave her chills. He had been ready to give up, to accept defeat, and that was not the Connor she knew. The guilt he felt for his part in nearly destroying the world was a raw wound across his heart and showed vividly in his eyes. The spark that always resided there had flickered out.

In contrast to that was the hope that dawned in him when she whispered to him that they would get married once they fixed this. It was like seeing new life breathed into a dying man. He drew the strength he needed from that promise to get up and make it out of the dismal future that New Dawn had created and come back to the present to try and put a stop to what they had all seen.

It was Connor that was finally able to reach Phillip and make him understand what New Dawn had done, but by then it was too late. Destroying the machine that created the anomaly would no longer save them. New Dawn had grown so powerful that it was self sustaining. Phillip implemented a self-destruct command but it did nothing to stop what he had started.

It was Connor who had come up with the plan that saved them all from Phillip's machine. He figured out a way to destabilize the New Dawn anomaly and cause it to collapse. If it hadn't been for Connor, they would all have died along with the future of the human race.

Connor Temple had really and truly saved the world.

She felt her heart swell as she remembered the joy radiating from his eyes when she asked him to marry her. As they drove from the ARC to Kings Cross, the excitement of her proposal had him almost jittery. Finding the passenger train in the late Cretaceous era and his near suicidal actions to divert the herd of G-Rexes was enough to push anyone over the edge. Connor's odd behavior after they were safely back and the anomaly locked was occupying her thoughts now.

What was puzzling Abby was that the change in Connor's mood seemed to begin when he looked at Matt. She knew that Connor cared about Matt. He had saved Connor's life on more than one occasion. It was Matt who went through the New Dawn anomaly into the future to bring him back from that world of desolation and death. Connor had told Abby many times that he respected Matt as the team leader and trusted his judgement. But when Connor looked at him now, he seemed to stare through him as if he were trying to see something not quite visible. His expression growing serious and pensive, and his normal chatter had ceased altogether.

Connor had not spoken a single word since they left Kings Cross. Matt had brought a frightening thought to the forefront of everyone's mind and Abby wondered if that had something to do with Connor's strange mood. During the convergence so many anomalies had opened all over the world that there could easily have been another raptor wondering around 18th century London, or terror birds reeking havoc during Shakespeare's debut. After the events of the last couple of months, no one was going to take anything for granted with any of the anomalies, least of all Connor.

Abby looked over at him only to see Connor was a million miles away. His brow was slightly furrowed and his eyes seemed to be moving as though he were reading equations across the light board in his lab. Whatever was bothering him was consuming all of his thoughts. She reached over and placed her hand on his arm.

"What is it?"

Conner didn't respond, lost in the world inside his mind.

"Connor?"

Abby shook his arm gently to bring him back to the present. The far away look in his eyes faded and he turned his gaze to her. "Huh?"

"You okay?"

A small smile turned up the corners of his mouth, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Uh, yeah, just thinkin'..."

"I can see that. What is it? What's got you so rattled?" Abby felt the tingling of fear begin to creep up her spine.

Connor seemed to mentally shake himself and smiled more naturally. "It's been a long day, that's all."

"Yeah, but a good day though. You saved the world and got engaged all in one go, yeah?"

Abby felt the fear recede as his face lit up. Mentioning their engagement was just what Connor needed to bring him out of his head and back to her. He got an odd sort of smirk on his face just then and asked, "Would you really have shot Becker back there?"

"I wasn't going to leave. If I had to shoot him to stop Becker dragging me back through the anomaly without you, I would have done, without hesitation."

Abby pulled the SUV into a spot in the ARC garage and shut the engine down. "We are in this together, no matter what. That's the deal."

Connor leaned over, holding her face between his hand and kissed her. "Deal."

Connor's improved mood lasted until they walked into the command center and he caught sight of Matt talking quietly with Emily and Becker. Suddenly his pensive moodiness returned in full force. The captain's vantage allowed him to look at Matt and Emily while still able to observe all the other people in the command center. Abby noticed Becker's stance change slightly and his focus was intense, but not on Matt or Emily. She followed his gaze and saw him looking at Connor who was in turn looking at Matt. Becker's attention shifted back to Matt before returning to Connor. If Becker was sensing the same thing that she was, that not only validated her instinct, it worried her. Something was very wrong and she needed to know what it was.

TBC

Preview chapter two:

Connor looked at Matt trying to will that uneasy feeling to go away, but what unsettled him more than anything else was the fact that he clearly saw the same uncertainty reflected back in the older man's eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Anomaly Within**

**Chapter Two**

Connor wanted desperately to quell the unease running rampant through his heart and mind, but he couldn't shake the feeling that had been steadily growing for the past five or six hours. There was something he was missing, something huge, something important, something that was causing his stomach to churn uneasily. The sensation took a sharp upswing every time he looked at Matt.

_Why is Matt still here? If we stopped the destruction of the future by disrupting Phillip's anomaly, then Matt, who hasn't even been born yet, would never have come back in time to stop it._

The thought swirled around in Connor's mind. Matt Anderson, or whatever his name really was, should never have walked back out of the dust settling around the defeated anomaly. He should have winked out of existence, at least as far as the present is concerned and yet there he was, standing just on the other side of the room.

It was more than Matt's presence that was disturbing Connor, although his continued presence was clearly the most visible sign. Something about the entire situation wasn't adding up. Connor Temple had devoted the last six years to continuing Cutter's work, understanding the anomalies, and more recently with Phillip, manipulating them.

Now that Phillip was gone, Connor, arguably knew more about the anomalies than anyone else on the planet. He knew in his heart that something was wrong, something hadn't gone to plan, but he couldn't figure out what that was. He was exhausted, he was still feeling the effects of breathing the toxic winds of the future on the other side of the New Dawn anomaly. He was probably still dehydrated having only been able to drink a small amount of water; something Matt seemed to think was necessary after exposure to those winds. On top of all of that his head hurt from smacking the steering wheel of the SUV when it crashed into the brachiosaur bull's hind leg. He needed to go home with Abby, take a shower and get some sleep.

His mind was nearly numb with the highs and lows of the past 24 hours. The highest point for him wasn't closing the New Dawn anomaly. It was when Abby proposed to him. They were engaged. He could still scarcely believe that the love of his life not only wanted to be with him, but actually wanted to spend the rest of her life with him.

_How long would that be?_

The stray thought was so shocking that it caught the young man completely off guard. He reached a hand back to steady himself against the counter as the impact of that thought nearly took his feet out from under him. Connor hoped that no one had noticed, but it was only a moment later that Matt stepped up to him, concern written plainly across his face.

"You okay, mate?" When Connor didn't respond immediately, Matt continued. "You need to get that head checked out."

Looking at Matt made Connor's stomach do a flip.

_He shouldn't be here._

"I'm okay, Matt."

The team leader didn't look convinced. "I want you to get down to medical, that's an order."

Connor stared straight at Matt, the feeling in his gut ratcheting up. He didn't know what to say to him so he cast his eyes down.

"Connor, you keep looking at me with a peculiar expression. If there's something I should know..." Matt left the question open and hanging, inviting Connor to elaborate.

Connor would have done, but he didn't know where to start. He didn't know what he was missing. Connor respected and trusted Matt, he just didn't know how to tell him that he shouldn't be here without sounding like a complete ass. He shrugged slightly and shook his head.

Abby joined the two men and stood close to Connor whether drawing strength from her closeness, or giving it, Connor was unsure, but he welcomed the contact. Abby grounded him, she always had.

"Abby," Matt said, addressing her directly. "Take him down to medical and get him seen to, then take him home and make sure he drinks more water. He was exposed to those toxic winds for longer than I'm comfortable with. The rest of the teams can continue with the clean up without the two of you." He clapped his hand on Connor's shoulder. "Get some rest, mate. You've earned it."

Connor looked at Matt trying to will that uneasy feeling to go away, but what unsettled him more than anything else was the fact that he saw the same uncertainty reflected back in the older man's eyes.

* * *

The medic didn't need to stitch Connor's head. It was superficial enough that two butterfly bandages were sufficient. He didn't even end up with a concussion, just a good sized goose egg and a slight headache that a couple of aspirin would take care of. Abby kept glancing over at him as she drove them to their flat. He wanted to explain what was bothering him, but he didn't really understand it himself. Connor told himself that it was fatigue, that it was the after effects of breathing toxic winds from the future, that it was the bump on his head, that it was the culmination of the emotional roller coaster the day had been, but deep down he knew that there was more to it. A hot shower, and a long deep sleep was what he needed more than anything else. That was what he told himself and Abby, even though his limbs felt like lead trudging up the stairs to their flat.

Connor had to smile when he stepped into the living area after showering to find that Abby had put on a kettle and warmed up some left over pizza. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her slender waist burying his head in her shoulder. She smelled of sweat and grime, but it was the most wonderful sent he could imagine. She was _his_ Abby and she made all the uneasy feelings spiraling around in his mind calm and move to the background.

"I love you." he whispered in her ear.

"I know."

She pulled away from him and guided him to a seat at the breakfast counter. A hot cup of tea, a large glass of water and a plate of pepperoni pizza awaited him. "Drink all the water, yeah? I'll be out in a few minutes."

She moved away to go take her turn in the shower but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her close to him kissing her passionately. Abby wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled into the embrace by her own powerful emotions. After an eternity and the need for air demanded their attention she pulled back making a face. "I need a shower, Love."

"You are perfect just as you are." Abby drove his uncertainty away, a sensation he was loath to be deprived of even for a few minutes.

She kissed him again, cupping his face with one hand. When she pulled back she had the water glass in her other hand and handed it to him. "Drink it all."

Connor took the glass and smiled. "Yes, mum."

He had to admit that the water made him feel a bit better. He wondered about the nature of those future storms and why they dehydrated the body so effectively. He could clearly remember the feeling of his lungs burning as though he had breathed in fire. Maybe in a way he had. He looked at the pizza but had no real appetite. He didn't want to disappoint Abby so he took the plate and dumped the pizza in the bin before washing up. The tea had cooled enough to drink and he took it and moved off to the bedroom, making himself comfortable on the bed sipping his tea, his thoughts once again turning inward.

* * *

Abby stepped out of the shower and dried off, feeling a bone deep weariness creep through her entire body. It really had been a bloody long day. When she stepped into the bedroom she smiled at Connor who had fallen asleep sitting up in bed with his cup of tea resting on his lap. She walked over and gently took the cup, setting it on the bedside table and crawled in next to him resting her head on his chest. Connor's arm automatically moved to wrap around her body although it was obvious that he didn't wake with the movement.

She felt reassured that the tension she had felt earlier was now gone, the muscles along his lean arms and chest relaxed in sleep. Abby dropped off into a light dose as she snuggled with Connor listening to his heart rate slow and even out. It was a perfectly peaceful moment and something that both of them desperately needed after the repercussions of the day. She wanted to stay right there in this moment in time forever. The ringing of her mobile, however, roused them both and she rolled over to pick it up, silently cursing whomever it was on the other end of the line.

Jack's name showed on the screen, and Abby found herself shaking her head at his timing. She couldn't really blame him, being that it was just past eight in the evening and most people were still well and about, not having ended their day so early. In the back of her mind Abby couldn't help but smile at the fact that most people hadn't seen the world end and then turn around and saved, all in the space of a day either. It didn't surprise her that she was hearing from Jack, given the anomalies opening all over the world. Jack was one of the few people who actually knew what they were and how dangerous they could be.

As she talked to her brother, Connor slipped out of bed. He reached over her, taking his tea cup, and moved out to the kitchen giving her a depressing feeling when his warmth left her side. Sliding out of bed herself, she wandered over to the door looking out at Connor as he moved through the flat. She could almost feel the tension return to him as the muscles along his back and arms reflexively contracted with tension. She ended her call as quickly as she could, but the quiet moment with him in bed was gone. Connor had been so relaxed, wrapped up in her arms, and now the pensive moodiness was back. She decided that she was going to get some answers, and after throwing on some sweats went out to the living area to talk with him.

This time Connor wasn't looking at ripples in water, but he was staring off into space a million miles or possibly a million years away from her. She watched him as she fixed herself a cup of tea before walking over and sitting down next to him, taking his hand into hers and intertwining their fingers together.

"Connor, talk to me. What's bothering you? You've been acting oddly since..." She had been about to say since the anomaly at Kings Cross, but then she remembered how he had been looking at Matt. "It has something to do with Matt, doesn't it?"

That got Connor's attention and he looked at her waiting for her to say something else. He had an almost expectant look on his face. "What about Matt?"

"You tell me, Connor. You have been staring at him strangely all afternoon, like... I don't know like he's wrong somehow."

"I feel like I'm missing something, something big and important, it's right in front of me, but eluding me at the same time." Connor tried to explain.

Abby wasn't following him and frowned. "Missing something? What do ya mean?"

He removed his hands from hers and she watched him rub them both down his face in a classic gesture of frustration. "When the New Dawn anomaly opened up it grew so quickly that I was drawn right into it. The sheer force was beyond anything we have ever seen, and that was just the beginning. By the time we got back to the power plant with the sun-cage containing the small anomaly from my lab, New Dawn had become so large that the truck never stood a chance. It would have been sucked into the anomaly with tremendous force even before Matt got close. The magnetic force was off the scale, seriously - beyond measurable, and yet..."

"He survived, and walked away from it when it closed." Abby finished his thought. "Why is that a bad thing, Connor? Shouldn't we be glad that Matt wasn't killed, or atomized or whatever it is that could have or should have happened to him?"

Connor hung his head shaking it. "It's not that, Abby. I'm glad Matt's okay. This isn't really about Matt, it's about the anomaly, it's about New Dawn."

Abby wasn't following Connor. She shook her head throughly confused as to why Connor was so fixated on New Dawn. "But we closed it, Connor. You did. You found the way to disrupt the anomaly causing it to collapse. It's over now."

"But how? How did New Dawn cause what we saw in Matt's time, the future he came from?"

Connor was so frustrated and upset that Abby slid over right next to him and placed her small hands on either side of his face making him look at her. "It doesn't matter, not anymore."

He didn't look convinced, if anything he seemed even more agitated. "Why is this so important, Connor?"

Connor pulled away from Abby and stood up quickly. He began pacing back and forth as if the physical movement would help to dissipate the nervous energy coursing through him. His bare chest and arms were taught as the muscles flexed, and he looked ready to explode from the tension.

"Abby, I thought I was doing the right thing, carrying on Cutter's work, but I didn't understand what I was doing and because of that, all of this happened. What I did with Phillip; working to create New Dawn nearly destroyed the world. Don't you see? I have to understand what happened, or what would have happened in order to prevent anything like that happening again. Helen knew, Abby! Somehow she knew what was going to happen, and I helped her!"

Abby had heard enough. Connor was beginning to sound like he had back on the other side of the New Dawn anomaly. She stood up and grabbed him by the arms stopping his pacing.

"Connor, you didn't help her. Phillip mislead you. He got you involved with this thing before you knew what you were doing. Phillip fed you the information he wanted you to have without telling you everything or else you never would have continued to work on it. You said so yourself. Connor, Helen may have manipulated Phillip, but it was Phillip who manipulated you. He traded on your respect for him, your belief in him. The moment you met him you made it clear that he was one of your idols and he used that to his advantage."

Abby could see the fight drain out of Connor as he listened to her. The nearly jittery energy left him, and he stood before her exhausted and emotionally spent.

"I know you need to understand the anomalies, but you can't do that when you are too tired to think straight. You need sleep, Connor; so I'm putting you to bed."

Connor raised his eyebrows at that last statement, but before he could say anything she placed her hands on his shoulders and turned him toward the bedroom adding, "To sleep."

TBC

Preview chapter three:

Once again he tried to let go, to no avail. The vibrating became stronger and more violent. The rippling energy emanating from the anomaly began to distort and bend toward the sun-cage. For the briefest moment Connor envisioned Becker's boot crashing down into a puddle at Kings Cross cutting off the ripples formed by pebbles tossed into the water. A sense of blinding panic enveloped him as realization dawned. The combined attraction and repulsion of magnetic force would be cataclysmic.

The sun-cage burst apart and the two man-made anomalies merged while repelling all of the energy drained from every naturally occurring anomaly causing a wall to slam down between the worlds connected by the portal. The last thought that ran through Connor's mind as a massive explosion emanating from the center of the anomaly ripped through the world that surrounded him was, _I did this! It's all on me!_


	3. Chapter 3

**The Anomaly Within**

**Chapter Three**

Ripples of energy and light radiated outward from a blinding bright center, surrounded by shimmering light that resembled broken shards of glass. A familiar face floated through the light, distorted by the rippling energy.

_'Everyone is dead, Abby. Have a good look, this is what New Dawn did to the Earth; turned it into hell.'_

The words left an empty hole in Connor's heart. He wanted to turn away, to run, but he couldn't. His attention was drawn to the lines of energy flowing outward from the center of the anomaly, lines that looked remarkably like the ripples in a pond when the surface of the water was disturbed.

All around other anomalies with their own surging energy shimmered in every direction as far as he could see. Lines of magnetic force, that should have been invisible to him, rippled vibrantly before his eyes radiating outward in every direction. He could clearly see the magnetic energy from all of the naturally occurring anomalies beginning to coalesce and snake toward the huge man-made anomaly created by Phillip's machine, feeding their energy into its ripples. The other anomalies began to shrink as they gave up their power, then one by one they began to fade from existence. The singularity before him grew larger and more powerful with each closure until it was the only thing he could see.

A voice from the past echoed through his mind like the sound of klaxons going off.

_'Connor, if you touch that, you could be changing the destiny of the entire universe.'_

Connor's heart ached with regret. He knew that Cutter had respected the anomalies. His mentor saw them as a force of nature that should be studied and predicted, not manipulated. How had he strayed so far from Cutter's work? The ache deep in his heart intensified as Cutter's final words to him echoed in his mind past the raging sound of the anomaly's power.

_'This matters. Don't know why, but it does; so you have to find out what it means okay? It's on you now.'_

_'It's on you now.'_

Suddenly Connor felt himself being pulled toward the light along with all the ripples of energy from the other anomalies. It was as though he was being carried along in a tidal wave of magnetic force, helpless to stop his forward progress. He reached out, desperate to grab a hold of anything to keep him from being swallowed whole, as stark terror filled his soul with a shock of intensity that threatened to overcome all sense of reason. His fingers closed around the handle of the sun-cage containing the satellite anomaly from his lab. When he recognized what he had grabbed onto, he tried to pull his hands back, but they were frozen in place.

Nothing could stop what was going to happen now. He knew with absolute certainty that there would be no return from the hell that Matt grew up in. He would be deposited in a world of death and despair with no hope of return. Guilt welled up in his heart and he stopped trying to fight it. Helen's jaded laughter sounded in his ears. She had won. He had helped to create that world and he deserved his penance of living what was left of his life breathing air that seared his lungs and parched his skin. Matt was right; he had truly created '_Hell_' and that was where he would die.

He closed his eyes, resigned to his fate, but when he opened them again the sight that greeted him when he passed through the anomaly utterly confounded him. Gone was the terror he had felt only a moment before to be replaced by stunned disbelief. He had been transported to a world that was alive and thriving. He looked back at the shimmering light that he had passed through not comprehending what he was seeing.

This was the future, but not the future he had expected. The world had moved on and thrived. The lines of force began to pulsate with the anomaly. The amount of force contained within the singularity was too much to be contained. Suddenly satellite anomalies began to open all around him, faded in color but still viable. A vision of the two anomalies at the prison flashed through his mind. Energy must be expressed and the New Dawn anomaly wasn't stable enough to contain the energy from all the anomalies of the convergence.

He looked on in abject horror as future predators began to stream out of the satellite anomalies that appeared everywhere. The vicious creatures swarmed through the openings in time, attacking men, women, and children. Bile rose in his throat as he saw a small child ripped to shreds before his eyes.

The sun-cage he held began to vibrate violently drawing him back toward the huge man-made anomaly, drawn to it by the magnetic force of the anomaly contained within.

Once again he tried to let go, to no avail. The vibrating became stronger and more violent. The rippling energy emanating from the anomaly began to distort and bend toward the sun-cage. For the briefest moment Connor envisioned Becker's boot crashing down into a puddle at Kings Cross cutting off the ripples formed by pebbles tossed into the water. A sense of blinding panic enveloped him as realization dawned. The combined attraction and repulsion of magnetic force would be cataclysmic.

The sun-cage burst apart and the two man-made anomalies merged while repelling all of the energy drained from every naturally occurring anomaly causing a wall to slam down between the worlds connected by the portal. The last thought that ran through Connor's mind as a massive explosion emanating from the center of the anomaly ripped through the world that surrounded him was, '_I did this! It's all on me!'_

* * *

Abby was pulled from sleep by heavy breathing. She instinctively knew that Connor was in distress and that brought her abruptly to wakefulness. For a moment she thought that they were back in the Cretaceous and Connor was being chased by something with teeth and claws ready to rip him apart. Her fight or flight response sent a surge of adrenaline through her body and she sat up ready to battle whatever had come to kill them. Her disorientation lasted for only a moment as her mind processed that they were not sleeping on the hard ground, but in a soft bed in their darkened flat. Her eyes made out the shapes of their bedroom and she saw the digital display of the clock reading 1:36.

Connor was mumbling under his breath and thrashing about, caught in the throes of some nightmare. She reached over and switched on the bedside lamp, momentarily blinding herself. Just as she rolled back toward Connor he sat bolt upright with raw terror reflected in his eyes.

"No, God no!"

She quickly twisted herself into a kneeling position straddling him and placed her hands on the sides of his face. She pulled him close calling his name.

"Connor, it's okay, wake up."

Connor's eyes were wide and dark and terrified. A sharp pang of fear welled up in her heart. As they had readjusted to life back in the 21st century, for a long time they were both plagued by nightmares, but this was different. She had never seen him so petrified. She wrapped her arms around him and drew him into a tight embrace speaking softly in his ear.

"Connor, it's okay, I'm here, you're safe, you're home."

At first he didn't respond to her touch and that frightened her more than anything else. She clung to him tighter, willing him back from whatever nightmare had taken hold of his mind. After a moment his arms reached up and returned her embrace and he buried his face into her neck unable to stop the sob that escaped.

She held him closely, softly repeating that everything was okay until his muscles relaxed and the taut vibrations coursing through his body had subsided. Connor had never been so affected by a nightmare and it was, frankly, unsettling her. After a few minutes he pulled away from her. His face was pale and his eyes, though averted from her, looked hollow and haunted.

"Want to talk about it?" she asked, as she moved off of him and slid up beside him.

He didn't answer her verbally, only shaking his head. He wouldn't look directly at her which increased her anxiety.

"Connor, we've both been through this before. It'll help to talk about it. You know that."

He just kept shaking his head, so she placed her hands on his face and turned his head so that he had no choice but to look at her. Their eyes locked for a moment before he cast his gaze down refusing to meet hers. What she saw in his eyes made her feel cold as a shiver ran up her spine.

"Please, Connor, tell me what you were dreaming?"

His voice was rough. "I think I know what happened... what will happen."

Abby sat back a deep frown creasing her brow. She thought he had been having a nightmare about a creature. "What happened? What will happen? What do ya mean, Connor?"

"Cutter was right. It's on me. That's not what he meant when he said it, but it's true all-the-same."

Abby was shaking her head at that point, wondering if he were talking in his sleep. "Connor, what are you on about? Are you awake?"

"I've got to go, Abbs." he said, as he pulled the covers back and slipped out of bed.

"Go? Connor, it's the middle of the night!" She jumped out of bed herself and came around to him. He had already reached for a clean t-shirt and she grabbed his arm. "Connor, stop. You're not makin' any sense. Where're ya going at this hour?"

"I've gotta... I've gotta know." Abby was starting to think that the strain of everything had caused Connor to experience some sort of breakdown.

"What, Connor? You have to know what? What has this to do with Cutter? Was he in your dream?"

Connor turned away from Abby and pulled on a pair of jeans. She started to feel a little panicky. Connor was acting so strangely. When he reached for the car keys, fear welled up inside of her. She moved around in front of him, blocking his way.

"Please, Connor, talk to me. Where are you going?"

Connor looked deep into her eyes and her heart broke at the despair she saw reflected there. "Abby, I have to do this, If I'm right..." Connor's voice dropped to a whisper and she had to strain to hear him. "Please, God, let me be wrong."

He reached up and cupped her face in his hands. "I love you, Abby, and I'm sorry." He bent down and kissed her gently and she felt tears dropping from his cheeks onto her own.

"Connor, you're scaring me." She could hardly speak for the fear running through her. "Please tell me what this is about."

An impossibly deep sadness infused every word Connor said. "It's about the future, the future _I_ created. I've gotta go, Abby."

With that, he moved past her and left her standing there staring after him.

**TBC**

Preview chapter four:

"Abby, tell me exactly what Connor said."

He had to admire the young woman. She held herself together as she spoke, and he wasn't so sure he would have been able to, had their positions been reversed.

"He has been bothered by something ever since the New Dawn anomaly, but he couldn't really explain it, just that he was missing something important. He was really fixated on that. He said he needed to understand how New Dawn caused the future you grew up in. He was absolutely insistent on that."

Matt felt like ice water had been dumped down his back. "Why, Abby? Why would he need to know how it happened?"


	4. Chapter 4

**The Anomaly Within**

**Chapter Four**

Matt wasn't sleeping when the phone rang, but he answered it quickly not wanting to wake up Emily. The continued efforts to deal with all of the creature incursions had wiped out almost all of the teams. The largest and most dangerous creatures had been effectively dealt with thus far, but there were more creatures to capture. At a point of near exhaustion Lester had called an emergency meeting with the team leaders. Most of the teams had been sent home just after midnight to get some sleep while a select few members of the ARC staff coordinated the squadrons sent out by the military to continue the search and seizure of creatures roaming the country side. Every military squad had an ARC soldier in charge and running each operation. Becker had refused to go home and was leading the team of soldiers assigned to London.

Martial Law had been imposed and all civilian movement had been restricted past sun down. Lester had ended up spending the better part of five hours on the phone with the minister as well as key members of the government organizing the efforts to clean up the chaos left by the convergence. By the time he had been ordered to go home it was nearly one in the morning. Emily wanted to keep working, but she was well past her point of endurance and agreed to going home with Matt more easily than he'd expected. Matt found sleep to be elusive, however. He couldn't get the vision of seeing himself out of his mind, and Connor's odd behavior earlier that day only added to his disquiet.

_'Go back. You have to go back.'_

Words spoken by himself, or some future version of himself repeated for the millionth time in his head. Matt had just about convinced himself that what he had seen wasn't real, but a vision brought on by the stress of the events that culminated the end his entire mission.

The sound of his mobile drew him out of his own thoughts, and seeing Abby's name on his mobile set warning bells ringing in his head. "Abby? What's wrong?"

Matt was out of his chair in a shot at the sound of Abby's voice. He had never heard her this upset, not even the time when Connor had been captured by the burrowing insects from his time. She sounded close to tears or had been crying already; again not something he had ever heard from the young woman.

"Slow down, Abby, and tell me what happened. Are you all right?"

Matt grabbed his car keys and scrawled a quick note to Emily as he listened to Abby. "Where is he now?"

Abby's answer stopped him momentarily. If she didn't know where Connor had gone then he didn't know where to drive to. After hardly a moment's thought he headed down the stairs at a quick gait. "Stay put, I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

Matt contacted the ARC to find out if Connor had his black box with him so they would know where the young paleontologist had gone, but he had left his flat without taking the tracking device with him. Matt made excellent time to Abby and Connor's flat being that it was after two in the morning and there was no traffic on the roadways due to the enforced curfew. His status at the ARC, not to mention the official vehicle he was driving with government plates would assure that he wouldn't be stopped. As he drove through the nearly abandoned streets he couldn't help but feel very uneasy about Abby's call. She said that she had tried calling Connor but he had evidentially turned his mobile off. It was a wild thought that had no basis in reason, but Matt couldn't help thinking that maybe Connor knew what the vision he had seen of himself meant. Maybe Connor was the key to understanding what had driven him from Emily's side and kept sleep from coming. A sarcastic version of his own voice played in his head.

_Or maybe Connor has succumbed to the incredible pressure of the last 48 hours and cracked._

That seemed to be Abby's biggest fear. Either way he needed to find Connor Temple.

Abby was already outside waiting when Matt pulled up. She looked terrible when she got in the car. Her eyes were red and swollen, so she had indeed been crying, but what impacted Matt was how scared she looked.

"Abby, tell me exactly what Connor said."

He had to admire the young woman. She held herself together as she spoke, and he wasn't so sure he would have been able to, had their positions been reversed.

"He has been bothered by something ever since the New Dawn anomaly, but he couldn't really explain it, just that he was missing something important. He was really fixated on that. He said he needed to understand how New Dawn caused the future you grew up in. He was absolutely insistent on that."

Matt felt like ice water had been dumped down his back. "Why, Abby? Why would he need to know how it happened?"

Abby shook her head. "He said he needs to understand how the creation of Phillip's anomaly caused the destruction of the world so that nothing like New Dawn would ever happen again. I got him to go to bed, but he didn't sleep well. He had some kind of nightmare, but not like any of the others."

"Others?"

Abby blushed a little at that. "Both of us suffered from nightmares for a long time, Matt. Living in constant fear for a whole year will do that to you."

Of course. He hadn't thought about how their year in the Cretaceous would have affected either of them since they first got back. They were both so solid and together it never really occurred to him after that first meeting, and it should have. His skills were slipping. "You said this nightmare was different. How?"

"It wasn't about surviving a creature attack. I don't really know what it was about, because he wouldn't tell me, but I think it had to do with New Dawn and..."

Abby hesitated; there was something she wasn't saying.

"Abby, I need you to be completely honest with me now."

She seemed to consider his words before answering. "I think you may be part of whatever has him so upset. I think maybe the fact that you survived what happened yesterday got him thinking about what happened when you drove Becker's truck into the anomaly. Something about how it closed isn't sitting right with him."

Matt felt his heart rate jump up a notch. He knew better than most how important Connor was to the future, and if he was feeling uncertain about that future then Matt had damned well better find him and listen to what he had misgivings about. The stakes were too high to put this off as stress related behavior. "Does he think that we failed to stop the future?"

An indefinable sense of fear began to grow in the pit of Matt's stomach and it showed on his face. Abby could understand that. She had seen the world Matt grew up in and knew how vital his success in stopping that from happening was.

"I don't know. He talked about Cutter and what he said to him right before he died."

Matt sat back taken completely by surprise. That was the last thing he had expected to hear and was intrigued. "Why? What did Cutter say?"

Abby seemed hesitant to go there, but that wasn't going to work for Matt. "Abby, it is vital that you tell me. It could very well lead us to where Connor has gone."

She nodded, obviously understanding the logic. She clearly wanted to find him as badly as Matt did. "Cutter told him _'It's on you'_ but he was talking about the artifact Helen found in the future and figuring out what it was for. Connor isn't making sense. I think he's blaming himself for something, but I don't really know what it is."

Matt thought about what Abby had told him. He knew that the bond between Connor and Nick Cutter had been strong, but that was years ago. Maybe he had under-estimated the strength of that bond.

"He was close to Cutter, yeah?"

A tear dropped down Abby's face. "Connor lost his own dad when he was a boy and I know that he looked up to Nick like a father. Think about what he said yesterday in that underground bunker. All he ever wanted to do was prove that Cutter was right to trust him. He wanted to make Cutter proud of him. He's been thinking about him a lot over the last few days so I suppose it's not so surprising that Cutter was part of his dream."

Matt remembered Connor's words clearly and the anguish behind them. "All right then. Let's start at the cemetery."

**TBC**

Preview chapter five:

"Do any of those equations mean anythin' to you?"

She looked at the screen and Connor's scrawled writing and equations. They could mean anything. Maths were never her strong point in school.

"I don't know what the equations are, but that..." she pointed to the large white board in the corner that was sectioned out into three divisions with information in each. "Those detail the worlds that Connor and I have seen through the anomalies."


	5. Chapter 5

**The Anomaly Within**

**Chapter Five**

Matt pulled into the darkened cemetery and parked along the long winding road that snaked through the plots. Abby opened the door and stepped out looking around.

"I don't see the car."

Matt also stepped from the vehicle. "Where's Cutter's grave?"

Abby hadn't been to the grave in over two years. A pang of regret seeped through her concern over Connor. "I... I'm not sure. It's dark and I haven't been here for a while."

She looked around the darkened grave sites when a flash of movement caught her eye. "Matt!" she whispered urgently and pointed off to the right side of the road. "Something's moving out there."

She saw Matt follow her gaze. At least a hundred meters off to the right dark shapes could be seen moving amongst the grave stones. Without taking her eyes off of the darkened landscape Abby reached into the back of the vehicle and grabbed an EMD. She could hear Matt doing the same. Abby also heard Matt communicating quietly with the ARC to inform them of a possible creature incursion at the cemetery.

Holding the weapons out before them Abby and Matt advanced to the rear of the vehicle toward the area where they had seen movement slowly and cautiously. The night was black as pitch and even the moon hid its glowing orb behind the cover of clouds. Silently they left the road and stepped onto the grass, eyes scanning the uneven terrain and ears straining to hear the slightest rustle in the grass in and around the grave stones. Abby could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end just before she heard a low growling that was so deep it could almost be felt, off to her right. She barely had time to react when a large heavily muscled creature jumped at her from behind a low grave marker ten feet in front of her. Matt shot the creature causing it to miss and howl angrily as it smashed to the ground inches away from its target just as the creature to Abby's right also attacked. Abby dove to the left and forward rolling on the damp ground and fired three quick rounds at the second animal. It hit the ground rolling and skidding coming to rest only a foot from her side.

Heart pounding in her chest, Abby didn't take time to react to the creatures that had ambushed them. She instead sprung up to her knees aiming her weapon toward the left expecting another attack. When none came she found herself searching the surrounding area for more movement in the night, but it seemed that their weapons fire had discouraged any further creatures from investigating the commotion.

Matt was also scanning the area for other creatures as he spoke over coms to the ARC explaining the situation.

Abby barely paid him any attention, feeling safe for the moment as she crouched down to study the unconscious animal by her side. She had never seen this creature before and mentally went through the log of prehistoric creatures in her mind trying to put a name to the animal. It was roughly two meters long and stood at least a meter high at the shoulders. The heavily muscled body was covered in a course fur that was mottled in color ranging from black to a rusty orange. The snout was quite long and had two four inch long razor sharp teeth at the end of it upper and lower jaws. The feet of the creature gave Abby the answer to her question.

Matt still kept a close eye on the surrounding area as he stepped over to Abby. "Any idea what these things are?"

"I think they are Mesonychids, an ungulate from the late Paleocene era. They are the ancestors of hoofed mammals, but that early in the fossil timeline, hooves were still in an early stage of development. All ungulates tended to have primitive hooves that looked like something halfway between giant fingernails and the modern type of hooves we see today. I can't be certain until we check with Connor's fossil record."

The mention of Connor's work brought Abby out of her musings rather abruptly. She stood and looked around wondering where the rest of the 'pack' would be. If she was right and these were indeed Mesonychids, then there should be more in the immediate vicinity, as they were believed to travel and hunt in packs. The attack was definitely coordinated with one animal distracting them while the other attacked from a different direction.

"Matt, these things are pack hunters."

Matt became even more alert if that was possible and continued to scan the surrounding area. "I don't think Connor came here, Matt. There is no sign of the car and with these things roaming around..." She allowed the though to go unfinished. Connor would not have stood a chance in the distracted state of mind he was in. She refused to believe that he was the victim of a creature attack. They had both lived too long alone in a hostile world filled with dangerous creatures for her to believe that he had lost his life to a creature after they had finally made it back home.

It wasn't long before two ARC vehicles arrived; one with heavily armed soldiers along with a containment van to detain the captured creatures. Matt spoke with the team leader dispatched to the site and Abby took note of how quickly night vision goggles were put in place and four soldiers were dispatched out into the dark cemetery. She moved back to the car and stowed her EMD as Matt was finishing up with his instructions. She stood by the side of the car as Matt approached. Her fear must have been written across her face even in the dim light from the ARC vehicles headlamps.

"Don't worry, Abby. The rest of the pack will be found. I agree that Connor isn't here. Wether or not he came here is irrelevant, he isn't here now. I've told the containment team to keep a look out for him and report anything they find directly to me. Now, let's go find Connor, yeah?"

* * *

It was just past 4:30 in the morning when Matt and Abby pulled into the parking garage at the ARC. Having not found Connor at the cemetery they tried going to the destroyed Prospero power plant. Since Connor was so fixated on the New Dawn anomaly and how it closed they hoped to find him there, but again they came up empty. Exhausting all the other options including paying a visit to where Duncan was living last, Abby suggested that they go to his lab. When Matt pulled in, Abby saw the car and breathed a sigh of relief.

As she had hoped, Connor was in his lab, but he had overridden the door lock controls and she couldn't get in using his passcode. Matt tried using his all access code to open the door, but that didn't work either.

Abby pounded on the door calling his name, but he didn't respond. He was completely immersed in what looked like very complicated calculations displayed on the screen opposite his work bench and computer. The small version of the New Dawn anomaly machine sat pushed off to the side of the work space. In its place Connor had constructed a small scale model out of wire that looked remarkably like Cutter's anomaly matrix. It was not nearly as complex as Cutter's had been, but that wasn't surprising considering that Connor had obviously put this thing together in only a couple of hours.

Off to the side of the display screen was a large white board that Connor had drawn lines on to separate it into three sections. At the top of each section he'd written titles. The first read Natural Evolutionary Era and under that he had written Mer creatures, future shark and then a string of equations that she assumed had to do with data associated with the anomalies that led to that world along with other facts and what looked like coordinates. Abby suppressed a shudder at her memory of that time.

The second title read Predator Invasion and Evolution. Under that title he had written Jack, Helen, ARC, ruins. He had also detailed the creatures they found through that anomaly including the future predators and the Megopteran. Under that were even more equations and coordinates. What she didn't really understand were the list of names he had written there.

Winfrith, Dungeness, Hinkley Point, Berkley, Oldbury, Bradwell, Sizewell A - B, Trawsfynydd, Wylfa, Heysham, Calder Hall, Hartlepool, Chapelcross, Hunterston, Torness and Dounreay DFR, PFR. Abby knew that these were names of places, but she didn't remember ever going to anomaly sites in any of these locations.

The last section was titled New Dawn. Under that title Connor had written future predator. He had taped a world map with clusters of red dots mostly over Europe, America and East Asia. All sorts of numbers were scribbled over the surface of the map, none of it making any real sense to her, then under the map was a very long and complicated mathematical equation. A portion of that equation was circled with red marker a couple of times. Whatever that equation was, it was important. Under all of that were three words.

ROCK... DIRT... DEATH

That section of the board; those words written in large bold letters in Connor's handwriting made her visibly shudder.

Abby moved to the intercom system and punched the button. "Connor, please open the door. I need to talk to you."

Connor paused for a moment at the sound of her voice. He turned his head just enough that she could make out his face, illuminated by the light from the wall screen. Her heart broke at the hopelessness she saw written across his features. For a moment she thought he was going to come over and open the door, but instead he turned back to his work, effectively blocking her out.

She stepped back from the door feeling physically stung by his rejection. Her heart filled with sadness and fear, not only for him, but for everyone. Connor was brilliant, and he was clearly onto something. Whatever this was, it had shaken him to his foundation and that didn't bode well for the rest of the world.

Matt placed his hands on her shoulders. "There's nothin' we can do until he comes out, Abby."

She hung her head and sighed trying valiantly to control the urge to cry again. After a moment she looked up at Matt not knowing what to do next.

"Does any of that mean anythin' to you?" he asked, indicating what they could see through the door's window.

Abby shook herself and took a deep breath. Matt was right, at the moment there was nothing either of them could do. She stepped back to the window looking in at the man she loved as he poured over the math in front of him.

She pointed to the wire model on the work top. "That is a smaller, simpler version of Cutter's anomaly matrix."

Matt nodded. "I remember reading about that, but I thought all of those data points were entered into the computer system, by Connor himself. He used that information in conjunction with data he discovered from the artifact brought back from the future by Helen Cutter. He should be able to bring that all up on a 3D model on the computer. Why make one out of wire?"

Abby stared at the model as memories of Cutter and his matrix came back to her. Connor told her he had joked that the 3D model made Cutter feel more like God. A sad smile touched her lips at that.

"He feels like he betrayed Cutter and everything he stood for. Cutter didn't want to use a computer simulation. He wanted to be able to see and touch the matrix, to be able to view it from all angles with his own eyes. Connor probably wants to go back to the basics, to try and see whatever is troubling him from Cutter's perspective."

Matt nodded at her explanation. "I would like to have met your Professor Cutter."

Abby thought about what Cutter's impression of Matt would have been. Cutter didn't get on well with those he didn't know, until he learned to trust them. "He was a difficult man, Matt, but a good one. I think he would have liked you... eventually."

Matt smiled a little at that comment then turned his attention back to Connor's lab. "Do any of those equations mean anythin' to you?"

She looked at the screen and Connor's scrawled writing and equations. They could mean anything. Maths were never her strong point in school.

"I don't know what the equations are, but that..." she pointed to the large white board in the corner that was sectioned out into three divisions with information in each. "Those detail the worlds that Connor and I have seen through the anomalies."

Abby sat down on the floor outside the lab and refused to leave until Connor opened the door. Matt looked back at the white board trying to piece together what Connor was on to for he had no doubt in his mind at this point that Connor knew something that the rest of the world didn't. The team leader also suspected that what Connor knew would explain what he had experienced the previous day. His 'vision' of himself telling him to go back was not just a vision. He began to realize that they had not stopped the future after all, but he couldn't figure out what he had missed. They had stopped New Dawn. The anomaly was closed and Phillip was gone as was everyone associated with the project except Connor, and the young man would never continue Phillip's work. Matt left Abby to her vigil. He needed time to think.

**TBC**

**Preview chapter six:**

All the way back to his flat Matt thought about everything that Abby had told him, and knew that they had failed to stop the future. Seeing a future version of himself telling him to go back had shaken him and made him doubt their success, but now with Connor acting this way he was certain they had failed. What he didn't know was how to deal with it. His job, right from the start, had been to stop this from ever happening. He had failed in his task, but maybe there was still a way to prevent the destruction of the world. Maybe with Connor's help they could put things right.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Anomaly Within**

**Chapter Six**

Matt walked out of the building staring up at the starlit sky. The blush of predawn was beginning to lighten the black of night to deep hues of indigo. How had a future version of himself managed to come back in time to the exact day that New Dawn had been created and subsequently closed? If he had managed to find an anomaly leading to that specific day why had he not helped to stop New Dawn from ever going on-line in the first place? The odds of a naturally occurring anomaly opening to that exact moment in time was beyond believable. The fact that he looked essentially the same clearly indicated that this would happen in the relatively near future. None of it made any sense.

The only way Matt could conceive of this happening was if both he and Connor found a way to open another man-made anomaly to allow Matt to visit himself in this manner. Neither of them would ever entertain such an idea. What dire circumstances could possibly have warranted such an action? Matt had no doubt that Connor could accomplish such a feat, but he just couldn't believe that he would, not after what had happened. The entire thing was giving him a headache. He went back inside returning to Connor's lab. Abby remained where she was but had fallen into a light dose, her head resting against the wall while Connor was still working whatever had occupied his thoughts. Matt roused Abby and somehow managed to convince her to get up off the floor and move to the lounge. It was nearing 6 AM and he knew that the rest of the team would be arriving in an hour or so. Abby was spent emotionally as well as physically. She needed to get some real sleep, or at the very least get off the cold concrete floor.

Connor didn't look like he was close to emerging from his lab and Matt wanted to go back to his flat to pick up Emily. He brought Abby a cup of coffee and sat with her for a moment.

"He'll be all right, ya know."

Abby held the cup of coffee but didn't drink. She looked up at Matt. "I hope so. I've never seen him like this, not even when Cutter died. He pushed himself then, but not like this. I just... I need him to talk to me, and he's shuttin' me out."

"I know. He needs to work out what's on his mind first. He'll come round, Abby. I have faith in that. If it turns out that closing the New Dawn anomaly didn't stop what happens in my time, then we're gonna need him. No one understands the anomalies as well as he does. He can't let his feelings of guilt over helping Phillip derail him emotionally. We're gonna need your help with him. He'll listen to you, Abby, even if he doesn't listen to anyone else, he'll listen to you, just like he did on the other side when he'd given up."

Matt watched Abby for a moment. He knew he'd chosen his words well when an expression of resolve formed over her exhausted features.

"Emily is gonna need a ride, so I'm going back to pick her up. If Connor comes out before I get back, call me right away."

"I will, and, Matt... Thank you." Matt gave her arm a gentle squeeze before standing up and heading out to the car park.

All the way back to his flat Matt thought about everything that Abby had told him, and knew that they had failed to stop the future. Seeing a future version of himself telling him to go back had shaken him and made him doubt their success, but now with Connor acting this way he was certain they had failed. What he didn't know was how to deal with it. His job, right from the start, had been to stop this from ever happening. He had failed in his task, but maybe there was still a way to prevent the destruction of the world. Maybe with Connor's help they could put things right.

What he was having trouble reconciling was the message he had given himself. He had to go back. Go back where? Go back when, and do what? Why would he give himself such a cryptic message? Had he imagined seeing a future version of himself?

Matt shook his head. No, he wasn't prone to flights of fancy. He had prepared for this task his entire life. Failure was not an option. If he went back what was he supposed to do to stop Phillip? _How_ would he go back for that matter? It isn't like he had the ability to create an anomaly that would take him to the exact time he needed to be, so how had he managed to send himself back to the ARC after New Dawn? Maybe he_was_ seeing things, because none of this was making sense.

What he needed more than anything else was to know what Connor was working on and he wouldn't find that out until the young man had finished. Trying to speculate was getting him nowhere so he forced his mind to set the problem aside for the present. His focus now would be on keeping Abby together emotionally so she could keep Connor on track to solving the problem, whatever that turned out to be.

When he arrived back at his flat, Emily was up and dressed and had just finished reading the note he'd left.

"What happened? Are Abby and Connor all right?" She asked, as soon as he reached the top of the stairs.

"They're fine. They're both at the ARC."

Emily stood waiting for some further elaboration and when he didn't say anything else she walked over to him staring straight into his eyes.

"What are you not telling me, Matt? I am not going to be fooled into thinking that everything is fine when Abby called you in the middle of the night. I will find out in any case so you might just as well tell me now."

This open and direct personality that Emily had is what had attracted Matt to her in the first place. She was also quite right. She was a part of this team and the entire team would be hearing what Connor had to say.

"I don't know what has him so upset, not exactly, but we may have a problem. There is a possibility that we didn't stop the future. Connor is locked inside his lab running through equations or something trying to confirm whatever theory got him out of bed in the middle of the night."

A look of shocked confusion appeared on Emily's face. "Locked? Why is he locked in his lab?"

"You remember I told you how he felt about his part in the creation of New Dawn? He was ready to give up yesterday on the other side of the anomaly. He saw first hand what New Dawn did to the Earth and the weight of that guilt nearly crushed him. He's not so much locked himself in, but locked us out. He won't even talk to Abby, not until he finishes what he doing."

Her confusion turned into worry for her friends. "And what exactly is he doing?"

"Looking for answers."

**TBC**

**Preview chapter 7:**

Lester turned to the others. "Give me a moment with him."

He didn't wait for any kind of response from the others; he simply turned and moved forward around the corner. The door was closed, but when he tried the handle he found that it was indeed unlocked. Pushing the door open and leaving it ajar he stepped into the aftermath of a furious outburst leaving the lab in complete chaos. There were papers strewn all across the floor. Equipment was flung against the walls and fell broken to the floor. Connor's laptop was in shattered ruins, having been thrown with force against the window in the door. The small version of Phillip's machine had suffered a worse fate than the laptop or any of the other pieces of equipment. It was destroyed almost beyond recognition.


	7. Chapter 7

**The Anomaly Within**

**Chapter Seven**

Lester was sore. His leg hurt, his chest hurt, and he felt bone tired when his alarm went off at 6 AM. He wasn't fond of using a cane, but for the moment it was a necessary inconvenience. He had spent the better part of four hours the previous evening on the phone with the minister as well as his wife, both of whom had disparate ideas of what he should be doing.

As much as his wife enjoyed the paychecks that James earned, after the events of the previous day she wanted him to quit his job and find a safer line of work. A part of him actually agreed with her, given nearly being killed by a future predator for the second time. However, he was British, and that meant soldiering on in the face of whatever life and this insane job threw at him.

He may not get the recognition he deserved, but he knew beyond any doubt that his work and efforts for the ARC kept everything working and running, if not smoothly, then at least relatively effectively. He also knew without any reservation that anyone else would be hard pressed to do his job. The ARC was of vital importance and he was a key part of its ability to function, so it was with that thought that he rose from the comfort of his bed and put on a suit and tie, ready to face another day.

He might never admit it aloud, but he was very proud of his team and the strides they had made in the seven years they had worked on the anomaly project. He kept those feelings tightly under control, but used them to keep himself moving as he walked through the car park noting that the vehicles off his staff were all there and accounted for. He leaned heavily on the cane as he made his way to the elevator, straightening up and walking with as much refined dignity as he could manage when passing any ARC employees.

Lester firmly believed that to instill confidence and authority he needed to appear to be in complete control at all times. His team looked to him for leadership and guidance, if not the frequently odd equipment or resource requisition. He briskly said good morning to any technical staff he passed in the hallway or nodded succinctly to any military personnel as though the end of the world had not just narrowly been averted the day before.

The fact that he had slept poorly, woken by nightmares of teeth and claws ripping him to pieces, had him steering toward the lounge for a cup of coffee even before he went to his office. As he rounded the corner to enter the lounge he came face to face with the core team stopping him in his tracks. James Lester had not achieved his position in life by being oblivious to the things happening around him. He was an excellent judge of character and had an uncanny ability to read the mood within a room full of people very quickly and accurately. The mood of his team that moment was anxious. Everyone was standing or sitting paying rapt attention to Matt who had quite obviously given them all troubling news.

"Did I miss something?" He glanced around and came to a conclusion before anyone could answer him. "Well, it seems as though Connor is missing from this little confab so I will assume that this has something to do with him. Would someone like to tell me what is going on or should I just take a guess?"

All eyes turned to Matt. No one seemed willing to elaborate on what was being discussed. Whatever it was, Lester could tell instantly that something was very wrong. He firmly planted an expectant and slightly bored expression on his face and looked at Matt with raised eyebrows. "Well?"

"Connor has locked himself in his lab. We are not sure what the problem is, and we won't know until he comes out."

Matt was nothing if not direct, which generally Lester appreciated. In this case Matt's explanation left him with more questions than he had started with, which in turn irritated him. Lester waited for a moment hoping that Matt or one of the others might elaborate, but when no further information was forth coming Lester settled for sarcasm. With a slight shake of his head that conveyed irritation he spoke in a clipped tone.

"So, Connor is having some sort of mental or emotional breakdown? Talk about the anomaly within! Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he just save the world and get engaged less than 12 hours ago?"

No one replied. Matt's expression was unreadable, something that thoroughly irritated Lester. Jess's face betrayed only concern and confusion. Becker looked ready to take an order, and Abby looked stricken. She had clearly been crying and had deep circles under her eyes. He briefly wondered if they had had a fight, but he just as quickly dismissed that thought. Abby would not be crying over a fight, she'd be gearing up for round two. It was Abby's reaction to the situation that caused Lester to begin to feel genuine concern for Connor.

"Matt, can't you over-ride the lock with your access?"

Matt crossed his arms over his chest shaking his head. "I already tried that. He's changed the code so that no one can get in."

"I see. Well, Jess, you'll just have to override the controls so that we can open the lab."

Jess looked shocked at the suggestion and sputtered, "But, if he's changed the code..."

Lester didn't have the time or energy to stand around when something was clearly wrong with a valued member of his team. He never even allowed Jess to finish forming her objection.

"So you are telling me that someone with your exceptional technological genius cannot hack a code on a locked door entered by an over-tired and distraught man, even if he is brilliant, in the very same system that you run and control on a daily basis?"

Jess blushed furiously at the comment. "Well, when you put it like that..." She looked to Becker who was trying unsuccessfully to keep from smirking. "Let me see what I can do."

Lester knew that Jess would get that door opened no matter what, and he had found just the right button to push to get her to do it. "Well, then I'll just go down there and have a chat with him, shall I?"

By the time Lester got halfway down to Connor's lab with Abby, Becker and Matt in tow, Jess had already contacted Matt on the coms.

"James, Jess said that the door isn't locked." Matt called out.

"I knew she could do it." Lester commented.

"She didn't. When she looked at the locking code it was already disabled."

Lester paused. Connor's lab was just around the corner and if the door was unlocked, then he may have left. Lester reached over to an intercom station on the wall next to one of the paleontology labs.

"Jess, is he still in the lab?"

"Yes, he's just sitting there not doing anything." Jess's voice sounded perplexed, alarmed and a bit frightened all at the same time.

Lester turned to the others. "Give me a moment with him."

He didn't wait for any kind of response from the others; he simply turned and moved forward around the corner. The door was closed, but when he tried the handle he found that it was indeed unlocked. Pushing the door open and leaving it ajar he stepped into the aftermath of a furious outburst leaving the lab in complete chaos. There were papers strewn all across the floor. Equipment was flung against the walls and fell broken to the floor. Connor's laptop was in shattered ruins, having been thrown with force against the window in the door. The small version of Phillip's machine had suffered a worse fate than the laptop or any of the other pieces of equipment. It was destroyed almost beyond recognition.

A small wire replica of Nick Cutter's anomaly matrix, however, sat untouched in the center of the work surface almost as if the tempest of Connor's tantrum swirled all around the object never daring to touch it. Sitting on a stool in the middle of the wreckage was Connor Temple looking utterly devastated.

For a moment Lester couldn't begin to fathom what he should say to the young man. He felt completely out of his depth, faced with the destruction of the lab that Connor himself had obviously caused. Even after Cutter's death, Connor hadn't looked so hopelessly defeated. His hands hung listlessly at his sides. His head was turned down as he stared at the floor in front of him.

"Tell me, have you managed to actually reach a new and incredibly depraved level of untidiness or did the Dracorex get out again and have a romp through your lab?"

His comment garnered no response from Connor who sat there as though he had not heard a single word. Lester stepped further into the lab taking in the scope of the destruction. This was so strikingly uncharacteristic of the normally optimistic and somewhat gentle young man. It was time to try a different tactic.

"This will all be coming out of your salary of course. It just won't do, having temperamental tantrums especially when you take them out of expensive equipment."

Once again there was no reaction from Connor. He just sat there as though he were completely unaware that Lester had even entered the room. Sarcasm hadn't work, threats had no effect, and Lester wondered what was left. He didn't do the warm fuzzy thing. He stepped over to the work surface to look at the one thing that seemed to have survived Connor's fit of rage. He reached out to pick up the model of Cutter's matrix saying, "As much as I abhorred that monstrosity that Cutter built in his lab, I have to admit the scope was a bit more impressive than..."

"Don't touch it," the young man interrupted Lester's comments in a rough voice.

Connor looked up at Lester causing him to freeze. James saw tear streaks on his face but that held nothing on the hollow dead eyes staring back at him. Finally, Lester had touched a nerve, and he pulled his hand back from the model. There is only one thing that Lester could think of that might cause the behavior that Connor had displayed, and the dead look in the young man's eyes.

"It isn't over. New Dawn is still a threat isn't it?"

Connor's eyes opened a little wider. He had clearly not expected Lester, of all people, to come to that conclusion without so much as a word spoken between them. "I need to talk to everyone. They have to know what's coming."

Lester felt his stomach turn uncomfortably at those words. The way Connor said it, it felt like they were all doomed to an inevitable fate. Lester personally didn't believe in fate. It was time to do what he did best.

"Right then." Lester said briskly clapping his hands together. "Presently, here in this mess, is not the place to have a meeting."

Lester touched the com piece in his ear. "Jess, make sure that the entire team is assembled in my office for a staff meeting at 9:00 sharp. Cancel all of my morning calls, this takes precedence over everything else and send a technical assistant down to Connor's lab right now."

Lester turned back to Connor pleased to see him staring at him with a stunned and incredulous expression. The young man had indulged in self-pity for long enough. It was a time for action and that is exactly what Lester knew Connor needed to shake himself from the stupor he had found him in.

"Connor, just tell whomever shows up what you need from all of this..." he said sweeping his hand across the room to encompass everything there. "...to be taken to my office for the meeting at nine, he'll handle that part."

Lester then fixed Connor with a steady and hard look and spoke in a voice that brooked no argument. "You are to go to the lounge, and get a cup of coffee. I'll have some breakfast brought in for everyone. I don't know about you, but I really don't want to contemplate the end of the world on an empty stomach."

**TBC**

**Preview chapter eight:**

"You were sent back in time with one mission, one job; to find out who was responsible for creating the future that you grew up in and to stop them; even if it meant killing them. Isn't that right?"

The opened mouthed stares of the others didn't seem to affect Matt at all. "Yeah, that's right."

"You're still here. The future wasn't stopped or you wouldn't still be here. You wound up focusing on Phillip when _I_ should have been your target."


	8. Chapter 8

**The Anomaly Within**

**Chapter Eight**

Connor was absolutely gob-smacked. Lester's quick understanding of the situation had shocked him out of the fugue state he had fallen into. Once Lester had stepped out of the lab Connor looked around and shook his head. He had never in his life had such a violently emotional reaction. He could scarcely believe that he had actually done so much damage to his own lab. What scared him was the fact that all of that rage was directed at himself, for what he had done. Helen Cutter claimed that she had murdered her own husband to save the world and a thought came unbidden to his mind that she had murdered the wrong person. The world would have been far better off if he had died that day instead of Nick Cutter.

That thought was so powerful that it shook Connor to his foundation. The idea of his own death formed in his mind and it held a very strong allure. It was an escape from the horrible mistake he had made and as soon as he thought that, the rage exploded within his heart. Rage at himself for being such a coward and even considering running away from what he had done.

As he allowed the fear, loathing and anger to vent, it began to grow feeding on itself. He found it focusing on not only himself, but Helen Cutter and Phillip as well. Breaking his miniature version of Phillip's machine was not enough. He had smashed it to pieces and then smashed the pieces to bits. The only thing that stopped him was when he turned to swipe away the only thing that was left untouched; Cutter's matrix. Seeing that reminder of how far he had strayed, stopped him dead in his tracks and all of the rage drained out of him leaving him spent and panting.

He walked over to the door and unlocked it before going back to his worktop, righting the stool and sitting down. He stared at Cutter's model as the tears began to fall. He had no idea how long he had sat there. He was numb, empty, and felt absolutely alone.

James Lester was the last person on the planet he would have thought could help him make any sense of what he was feeling, but his response to what Connor had discovered had left him marveling at the man. Only James Lester could face the end of the world with such unflappable practicality.

Connor was drawn out of his reverie by a boisterous voice that was far too loud for the mood he was in.

"Oye, mate. What the hell happened in here?"

By the time Connor had finished sorting through the documents and equation sheets he had strewn all over the lab and instructed the tech assistant what to make copies of to take up to Lester's office it was nearly 8:30 in the morning. The activity made him feel better and worse at the same time. He was able to shake off the depressive apathy that had begun to consume him, but feeling foolish was a grotesque understatement to how he felt about having what amounted to an adult sized temper tantrum.

When he walked into the lounge he was grateful to only find Abby there waiting for him. He wasn't quite ready to face the rest of the team or Lester for that matter. The dollar amount associated with the wreckage to his lab was bound to be staggering and he had no doubt that Lester would make good on his promise that the funds would come out of his salary.

Looking at Abby, he decided that bit of news could wait until after he told everyone what the world would face as a result of his decision to merge the two anomalies. At that moment in time all he wanted to do was to hold Abby close and gain strength from her presence.

She must have had the same thought because as soon as she saw him, she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him into a tight embrace. The two just stood that way for a few minutes and Connor felt his resolve begin to strengthen. He would fix this. He didn't have a clue how he would accomplish it, but he would do it all the same. After a few minutes he whispered into her ear, "I'm sorry, Abby. All of this is my fault."

Abby pulled away from him searching his eyes for something. "What's your fault, Connor? Please tell me what this is all about."

Connor leaned forward so that their foreheads were touching. "I will, I'll tell everyone. I've made a terrible mistake, Abby. It took me a while to sort out the details, but I have now, and honestly, I don't know what to do about it." He paused for a moment and kissed her tenderly. "It's not over, Abby. New Dawn. It's not over. I'm gonna need your help to figure this out."

Confusion and disbelief clouded her eyes for a moment. He knew she believed in him and when he told her that it wasn't over, she believed that too. The implication of that realization caused fear to reflect in her clear blue eyes which made his heart wither. It was his fault that Abby along with the rest of the world had to face the future that he had created.

* * *

Nine o'clock came almost too quickly for Connor. His sheets filled with calculations, lines of force, magnetic pole information for the past millennium of Earth's history, and anomaly data meant very little to the people looking at the copies that had quickly been made and dropped in Lester's office. What made an impression were the future comparisons that Connor had drawn up.

Jess and Lester had only seen the future predators, but nothing of the worlds that they came from. Becker had seen the future that Jack had inadvertently stumbled into; the same future that Connor, Abby and Danny had followed Helen to. Matt came from the future that existed beyond the New Dawn anomaly and was intimately familiar with that dismal world. Connor had no idea what Emily had seen during her travels through the anomalies looking for the passage back home. Connor and Abby were the only people left alive, as far as Connor knew, who had gotten a glimpse of the future that he had dubbed, the natural evolution of the Earth.

Connor sat quietly as the members of the team poured over the sheets of information waiting for the flood of questions he felt sure would follow. It was Matt who spoke first.

"Connor, I don't have the first clue what all of this means, and I doubt anyone else here does either. Why don't you take us through it?"

Connor shot a quick glance over to Lester who sat at his desk impassively. The ball was in Connor's court now, and he had no choice but to tell the others what he knew.

"We have seen three different and distinct futures through the anomalies. Abby and I saw a future that no one else here has, four years ago."

Connor looked over at Abby and noticed the slight shiver that ran through her.

"In that future the world was alien to what we know now, but it was still vibrant and alive. Cutter believed it was a future that incorporated a natural evolutionary process and one that existed or will exist millions of years from now. The creatures we saw in that world could even have been an evolution of the human race, but I was never truly convinced of that. To my mind it was what happened to the Earth after human kind had left. The point is, I also believe that the world we saw was a natural evolution."

Becker was frowning. "Now hang on. I've read every file on the original ARC. You are talking about what Cutter described as Mer creatures, right?"

Connor nodded at his question. Becker raised his eyebrows in an expression that clearly showed he wasn't buying that as anything remotely natural. "How is that a natural evolution? Those creatures sounded more like over grown walruses by the descriptions in the files."

"They could be a descendant of the walrus or the seal. I never really believed that they were people once, but Cutter got hung up on the fact that they could sing. It doesn't really matter, in any case.

"The future that we followed Helen Cutter into was a completely different story. In that world the city lay in ruins. Old rusted out cars stopped on streets as if abandoned during rush hour traffic, crumbling buildings everywhere, and predators. As terrifying as that world was with future predators everywhere, and nests of Megopteran insects, there was still life; grass, trees, a sky with clouds capable of producing rain. In that future the predators came through anomalies, sweeping through the city and then beyond.

"Then there was the future we saw on the other side of the New Dawn anomaly; the world Matt grew up in. That future held no life outside of the future predators. There were no ruins, no indication that a civilization had ever existed. There was only rock, and dirt, and toxic winds."

Emily whispered, "Sterile."

All eyes turned to her. Connor watched as she looked up at the team then over to Matt. "When you first told me of the world you came from, you described the Earth as sterile, incapable of sustaining life." She turned her eyes to Connor with an almost pleading expression. "But that world was stopped, Connor. We closed the New Dawn anomaly. _You_ closed it when you merged your anomaly from the lab with the anomaly created by Phillip's machine. Connor, you stopped that future from happening."

"I didn't, Emily." Connor stepped over to Abby and took her hands in his. "This is what was driving me mad last night. Something just didn't add up." He turned so that he was addressing the entire team. "Think about it. The entire world was going through convergence; anomalies opening everywhere all at once."

Emily was nodding her head. "That's right. Matt told me that it was a natural process. That every few millennia the Earth's magnetic poles reverse, that it's a process that convergence allows, and life on Earth adapts to this. He said that Phillip's machine interfered with that process. That caused the destruction of the world and the future that he grew up in."

"Matt was mostly right, Emily." Connor couldn't help but notice the sharp look that Matt gave him at that comment.

"The anomalies _are_ a natural force, one that has been happening throughout time. They explain the odd gaps in the fossil records and the creatures of legend that appear in every culture across the world. That natural process was disrupted when Phillip opened the New Dawn anomaly. It drew power from all the naturally occurring anomalies all over the world causing them to close prematurely. That's why New Dawn grew so large and became powerful enough to be self-sustaining so quickly. New Dawn absorbed all the energy from every anomaly world wide."

The confused looks that darted between the rest of the team were something Connor expected. It had taken him hours to realize the connection and when he did he was devastated, as he knew they would be in a moment.

Becker crossed his arms over his chest. "Okay, so we all know how devastating Phillip's anomaly was, and how much damage it would cause. You said it yourself, the world it created was incapable of sustaining life."

"No, not that world. If Phillip's machine had gone unchecked the result would have been the future we saw when we followed Helen."

"How's that then?" Matt wanted to know.

"Remember the prison? Two anomalies opened in the exact same spot. They acted like magnets and tried to repel one another but they couldn't because they were fused. All that generated energy had to go somewhere and that's why all those satellite anomalies were created all over the prison. The principle for New Dawn was the same. If it had remained open all of that excess energy would have had to go somewhere, just like in the prison. Satellite anomalies would have begun appearing all around it. The one in my lab was the first to open because of the machine. It was small, but an exact replica of Phillip's machine. Others would have followed. Just like we saw in the prison they would have been weaker versions of the original, and they would have all led back to the same place. That's how the predators entered our time and destroyed everything causing the future we saw when we followed Helen."

Lester was following the conversation as closely as any of the others.

"So let me see if I understand this correctly. If you hadn't merged the anomaly from your lab with the New Dawn anomaly we would have suffered the fate that was seen in the future that you, Abby and Danny followed Helen into?"

"That's what the data supports."

Jess started to shake her head. "I don't understand what the problem is, then. You closed the anomaly, the predators that _did_ get through have been dealt with and no new ones came through at New Dawn. Why is that a bad thing?"

"The two futures are linked Jess." Connor explained. "In one, New Dawn runs its course and the predators are free to cross over into this world. In the other, we stop New Dawn only to create an even bigger threat."

"That's where you've lost me again, mate. How will the future I came from happen now that New Dawn is closed and the machine destroyed?"

Connor made sure he had everyone's attention when he dropped the bomb.

"New Dawn drew all the power from the convergence. That was Phillip's plan from the start. He used my convergence data to set all of this in motion. All of the natural anomalies began to close as their energy was sapped by New Dawn which in turn caused it to grow. You all saw that. It became so powerful that it no longer needed the machine. It became self-sustaining.

"But you have to remember that the anomalies are a natural force that causes the Earth's magnetic poles to reverse. By stopping that process from happening, we interfered with the magnetic field protecting the planet. When we forced New Dawn together with the satellite anomaly from my lab they were drawn to each other because they were the same anomaly, but just like at the prison when the two came in contact with each other New Dawn was repelled by the magnetic force of all the others. It was like a wall being slammed down breaking off all the lines of energy from this time."

Becker threw his hands up in the air. "Okay so you slammed the door on the anomaly. Again, why is that a problem?"

"So where did all that energy go?"

Connor let the question hang in the air as the implications of it slowly sunk into everyone's mind. Jess's jaw dropped and her hand came up to her mouth, Becker was frowning as he thought through that question and his arms slowly dropped to his sides, Matt stood and stared at Connor with an expression that Connor couldn't read. Abby sat down and dropped her head into her hands. It was Emily who spoke first this time.

"Phillip didn't cause Matt's future, we did."

"_I_ did." Connor corrected her.

"When New Dawn collapsed all of that energy didn't just wink out of existence. It had to go somewhere. That world we saw was created because a massive explosion of all that magnetic energy ripped across the face of the Earth. That essentially cut off the lines of force that make up the magnetic field surrounding the Earth. In other words the Earth will lose its magnetic field. The same kind of thing happened on Mars."

Lester shook his head. "I don't follow. What has any of this got to do with Mars?"

Mars is a planet that is or _was_ very much like our own. It has a solid iron core that was once surrounded by molten iron that swirled around it. It is basically a process of convection currents of an electrically conducting iron-nickel alloy in the liquid core."

"Connor, I know that what you are telling us is important, but most of us don't have the background to understand. Can you explain it more simply?" Emily asked.

"Okay, Earth has a solid Iron-nickel core. That core is surrounded by a molten liquid core of iron that swirls around the hard core. The churning motion of the liquid core causes convection and generates the magnetic field that surrounds the earth and protects our atmosphere. Mars also used to have a magnetic field around it. It had an atmosphere, and oceans and life, but it was further away from the sun and smaller. That caused it to cool too quickly and the molten iron solidified and froze. As a result Mars lost its magnetic field."

"So? Again I don't see how that has any bearing on what is happening here, Connor." Becker protested. Before he could answer Matt spoke.

"Solar winds."

Connor wasn't particularly surprised that Matt knew what he was talking about. He had been educated in anything that would or could be related to what the ARC was doing. "That's right. The sun generates powerful magnetic fields that erupt in massive loops that when they collide cause storms of highly charged particles that shoot out into space. It's called the solar wind and the rocky planets closest to the sun are bathed in this solar energy as they orbit the sun. The magnetic fields around Earth and Mars acted as a shield deflecting those solar particles. Without its magnetic field the surface of Mars was decimated by solar winds. They burned through the atmosphere and boiled the oceans. It turned Mars into a barren desert with no atmosphere, no water, no life. The toxic winds that poison the air in Matt's time are the result of the Earth losing its magnetic field."

Matt looked stricken but he was obviously still confused. "So what about the predators? Why weren't they wiped out along with everything else?"

"The massive magnetic explosion that will happen is going to destroy every nuclear power plant in the world. That radiation along with solar radiation wiped out anything the explosion didn't, and it created the predators. We already know that they are related to bats. We have seen that in the blood samples. Bats live deep in caves that may have protected them from being incinerated in the initial blast, but it didn't stop them being exposed to massive levels of radiation. They mutated and became the creatures we have all seen. I think that they can survive in that world because they are already genetically adapted to the radiation levels, but sooner or later they will also die out."

Connor's pronouncement caused a stunned silence to descend on the room. Matt pursed his lips thinking, then looked directly at Connor and in that instant Connor recognized the same look in his eyes that he had seen the day before in the control room. Matt knew something that no one else did and it had something to do with all of this. Of that Connor was certain.

"Tell me something, Connor. I know that you started piecing this together yesterday at Kings Cross."

Connor nodded in affirmation but didn't say anything.

"You kept looking at me like you were trying to figure something out. Why is that?"

"Every time I looked at you, somethin' inside me knew that things hadn't gone to plan because you're still here. Your presence was the most visible sign that we hadn't stopped the future."

Matt nodded imperceptibly.

"You were sent back in time with one mission, one job; to find out who was responsible for creating the future that you grew up in and to stop them; even if it meant killing them. Isn't that right?"

The opened mouthed stares of the others didn't seem to affect Matt at all. "Yeah, that's right."

"You're still here. The future wasn't stopped or you wouldn't still be here. You wound up focusing on Phillip when _I_ should have been your target."

**TBC**

**Preview chapter nine:**

"I... Abby, ... _what_? I did this, don't you see? It's all down to me. If I had never worked with Phillip; helped him create New Dawn none of this would ever have happened. But it's more than that. It was my plan to merge the anomalies. I caused the cataclysm that wiped out..."

Connor had to stop speaking as his throat closed up on him. He needed to take a moment, running his hands down his face. He shook his head slowly continuing, "I am the reason that all life will be destroyed, not Phillip; not Helen; it's all down to me."


	9. Chapter 9

**The Anomaly Within**

**Chapter Nine**

Abby was on her feet in an instant. Connor hadn't expected her reaction, feeling stunned when she slapped him hard across the face. A sigh escaped him and he sagged back against the corner of Lester's desk. It was the least he deserved for what he had done. The shocked expressions on everyone's faces were more than enough proof for him, and he just stood there ready to accept all the well deserved contempt from everyone.

"Don't you dare say that again, Connor Temple. Not ever!"

The fire in Abby's crystal blue eyes cut through him like a knife, and it took a moment for his brain to catch up with the meaning of her words.

"I... Abby, ... _what_? I did this, don't you see? It's all down to me. If I had never worked with Phillip; helped him create New Dawn none of this would ever have happened. But it's more than that. It was my plan to merge the anomalies. I caused the cataclysm that wiped out..." Connor had to stop speaking as his throat closed up on him. He needed to take a moment, running his hands down his face. He shook his head slowly continuing, "I am the reason that all life will be destroyed, not Phillip; not Helen; it's all down to me."

Abby had clearly followed what Connor was saying. "But Earth isn't Mars, Connor. We still have the hard iron core and the molten iron surrounding it. Wouldn't that just create a new magnetic field?"

"That process takes thousands of years, Abby. By then the surface of the planet will have been stripped of life and most of the atmosphere. The oceans will boil and kill everything in them before drying up and leaving nothing behind."

Lester rose from his desk and stepped around it straightening his tie and smoothing it down his shirt front.

"As much as I am certain you would like to wallow in self-pity there really isn't time for that now. The fact remains that Phillip created New Dawn; with or without your help is quite beside the point now. I don't know about you, but neither one of the futures that resulted or will result from his infernal machine are ones that I care to entertain.

"Connor you are the only person with the knowledge necessary to solve this problem so if you don't mind, drop the self-flagellation and get back to work."

Lester had done it yet again. The shock value of his words were enough to snap Connor out of the funk he was sinking into. Lester was right; he didn't have the luxury of feeling sorry for himself. He needed to make this right.

Lester could clearly see that his remarks had the effect he was looking for so he cleared his throat before continuing. "So, bearing all of that in mind, tell me what you need."

Connor looked at Lester a little confused. "What I need?"

With a long suffering expression planted firmly in place Lester rolled his eyes as though he were talking to a dim witted teenager. "Yes, what do you need to save the world from a massive explosion that will occur at some point in the future, wiping out all life as we know it? It was a rather obvious question, I thought."

Connor just stared at him for a moment. "I.. I've no idea. That much power doesn't just disappear; it must be expressed somehow, somewhere." Connor looked stricken. "I don't know, I'm not sure there is anything that can be done to stop it. I've no idea when this will happen."

Lester gave Connor a hard look. "So that's it then, you're just giving up? That doesn't sound like the young man who worked closely with Nick Cutter and wanted so desperately to continue his work. It certainly doesn't sound like the man who stood here in this very office not two years ago insisting that he deserved to remain here at the ARC to fight until he's won, or have you forgotten what you said when you came back from your year in the Cretaceous?"

Connor remembered how angry he was when Lester and Phillip told him that he had been sacked and some of that fire returned to his eyes. Lester jumped in before he could say anything else.

"The first thing you need to do is to figure out a way to determine when this event is most likely to occur and how best to deal with it, so what do you need to do that?"

Connor stood mute for a moment just trying to wrap his head around the scope of the task in front of him. The time for recriminations was not now, and he knew that. There must be some way to make things right, and he meant to find it or die trying.

"In your own time." Lester said, impatiently.

Connor drew in a breath and started thinking and talking at the same time.

"Your right, we need to try and figure out when this will happen. I'll need every scrap of Phillip's research that's in the ARC databases as well as the main Prospero data banks at his offices. I can pull the cloned hard drive from my computer. That will have most of it, but I'll need a far bigger database to work off of. Matt, I'll need you to help me place a date on the future we saw on the other side of New Dawn. If we can date the anomaly to within a year of when it will open we might have a chance." Connor looked at Matt hopefully.

Matt shook his head. "I don't really know if I can give you very accurate data there. I have the chronicles of the fall, but those dates were lost with the destruction of everything. I'll only have my own recollections and what I learned growing up in the aftermath."

Just as a sinking feeling began to well up inside Connor again Emily spoke directly to the team leader. "Matt, didn't you tell me that others were sent back in time besides you and your father? Is there any way to contact them?"

"It's true others were sent back to different times within this era, but I don't know when. My father and I were sent back to this time; the others could have been here for years or have not yet arrived."

"Your father?" Becker asked just as Lester said, "You mean there are other people from the future here?"

"Yes, Becker, my father came back to this time with me, and yes it is possible that there are other agents from my time here now, James."

"Well then let's have a talk with your father for a start. He would be far more helpful in finding an accurate date for the calamity I would think." Lester insisted.

"We came back in pairs. My father's function here was to set up a background that ensured my position here at the ARC, but we can't confer with him."

"Why the hell not. The time for secrets is long past, Matt." Becker demanded.

Connor saw pain and grief pass over Matt's face but it was Emily who answered. "He's dead. He died a few months ago."

"He knew he only had a limited time. My father lived far longer than most people from my time do. In the world I grew up in, human life expectancy is no more than 30 to 40 years. I know that he remembered a time before the world that I was born into. He was just a young boy when everything changed; he was one of the few survivors."

"And you have no idea what year your father was born in?" Abby asked.

"Dates had little to no meaning for us. We struggled day-to-day just trying to survive. But some of the others who came back may have a better idea of a date when this all began. I have names, but they will have probably changed. You can be assured that they have been or will be in someway connected to the ARC."

Connor was stunned by these revelations. Someone he had possibly worked with may have all the answers or at the very least some of them.

Lester turned to Jess, "Jess this sounds like a job for you. Comb through the files of every ARC employee, or consultant whether military or civilian past and present. You'll need to work with Matt and see if you can find anyone who is from his time. Look for CV's that are too good to be true."

"I knew you had never climbed Everest." Becker said, under his breath.

Lester chose to ignore the gibe at the team leader and continued to direct the meeting. "Alright then, even considering we can accurately put a date on this explosion, we still need to deal with how to stop it. That is back to you, Connor."

Connor wanted to protest that there was no way to stop the explosion from happening, but he didn't want to go down that road again. He would have to figure out a way to contain it, or divert it, or redirect it in some way. He began pacing as he thought. "We'll need to divide our efforts here at the ARC."

Lester crossed his arms over his chest. "Divide them how?"

"We already deal with detection and containment. Nothing should change with that, but we will need to have divisions specifically dedicated to anomaly research, geomagnetic sciences, and biological research. The only way we can hope to change the outcome of the future is to know everything there is to know about the anomalies. If we understand them fully, then there might be a possibility that we can use them to stop this ever happening."

Connor cast a sharp glance at Abby. He was mildly concerned that he would get slapped again for eluding to going back in time to prevent New Dawn. She didn't show any sign of attack so he continued.

"Understanding the anomalies and how to protect Earth's magnetic field is only part of the battle. We also need to know as much as we can about the future predators. We have fought them off before, but they are fast, powerful, and deadly enough that our efforts would be useless if faced with too many of them at once. We need to know how these creatures evolved and what kinds of radiation levels they were exposed to. The radiation signature in the creature's tissues might even be able to help us determine a time line."

Lester listened carefully to what Connor had to say taking it all in. He nodded his head slightly and put a hand thoughtfully to his chin. "Alright it sounds like you have a solid idea of what direction we need to move in, but all of those things that need to happen will require specialized personnel. Who will you need to accomplish this?"

Connor paused in his pacing for a moment thinking about the task at hand. "For anomaly and geomagnetic research we'll need physicists, the top people in their fields."

"What fields?" Matt asked, now curious.

"Geophysics, Theoretical Physics, Condensed Matter Physics, Atomic and Molecular Physics, Mathematical Physics, Quantum Field Theory, and Quantum Mechanics for a start. We will have to have extremely strict protocols in place. We can't ever risk having what Phillip did repeated. I know it will be tempting to try and recreate Phillip's work in order to find a solution, but that can't ever happen."

"I should say not." Lester intoned, before continuing. "Who will you need for the biological end of this?"

Connor looked to Abby. She had a stronger background in the creature end of things. She frowned thinking and spoke carefully. "For the biological research on the future predators and any other creature from the future that we encounter, we'll need Bio-Physicists with specialties such as Computational Molecular Biology, Evolutionary Biology and Physiology, Neurobiology, Neuroethology, Comparative Animal Physiology, and Invertebrate Zoology."

Lester raised his eyebrows and looked around at the assembled team. "Oh dear, that is certainly a lot of 'ologys'. Alright then, Matt, you are still the team leader and in charge of the detection and containment division of the ARC, as always.

"Abby, you are our zoologist so you will be heading up the biological research team. Sit down with Connor and make up a comprehensive list of all the biologists you will need to make up your team and whatever specialized equipment will be necessary to get the job done.

"Connor, you will be heading up the division for anomaly and magnetic field research. Same instruction. I will need a comprehensive list of the different physicists you will need for your team and what resources they will require."

Jess couldn't help but say something as she listened. "Without Phillip and Prospero, how will all of this umm... well, get paid for?"

A victorious smile crept over Lester's face. "Happily Phillip had already put another half billion pounds into anomaly research. Oh he didn't mean for us to be able to use it per se, but the money sits there and we need to research the anomalies, so it's a simple solution. After I have a long lunch with the minister explaining that at some point in the not too distant future the world will come to an end and all life on the planet will be destroyed if we don't do something about it, should loosen any other purse strings that may be required."

"And what if we fail?" Every eye turned to Becker. "I'm sorry to be the one to say it, but don't we have to ask that question? What if all of the physicists and all of the 'ologists' can't put Humpty together again?"

"Oh fear not, that will also be discussed with the minister. He will be obligated to share what we know with the heads of every other world government. Where do you think I am going to get all of those physicists and biologists? This is no longer just a problem for Great Brittan but for the world."

"Lester's right, we need to make sure that underground shelters are built now before the calamity. Almost no one survived in my time. If the human race is prepared to face this we can still have a chance IF we fail to stop it happening." Matt interjected with conviction.

"I see your point, Matt. It looks like you will have to pull double duty then. Along with being the head of detection and containment, you will also have to be the minister's advisor on what to do to prepare for the future if we fail. Now I suppose we'll have to tell him that you are indeed a man from the future after all. Good Lord, I don't think lunch will work. It will have to be dinner. The minister is going to need a drink."

**End Episode 1 Series 6**

**A/N:**

I hope you enjoyed this story. This is how I would have continued the series if it hadn't been canceled. We have only seen 3 of the Primeval New World episodes so I have no idea if any of this has been addressed in the new series. It seems to be a bit off. The main character keeps telling his "team" they are trying to keep this secret, but with anomalies opening all over the world during convergence the world already knows about it. The new series seems to be ignoring that rather glaring cannon point.

It was nice to see Connor in the pilot but his part was so small and he had little to say. The series is clearly trying to start over hoping for more success that the original. Personally I thought the original was splendid and I am sad to see it discontinued with so many different directions it could have gone.

I have no solid plans to write an episode two, but if anyone seriously wants to collaborate I would be open to that. This story took mountains of research and all of the facts stated by Connor are researched and accurate. To continue this would require the same level of research and planning. Personally I'm not sure I am equal to that task at this time. Life is rather cluttered at the moment. I would love to show this idea to TPTB and offer my writing talents to them but somehow I don't think that would ever happen. ;-) Oh well.

Thanks for reading and please take a moment to tell me what you thought of the story. Your comments, whether good or critical are one of the reasons that authors of fan fiction continue to spend hours of work to bring you these stories.

Alice I


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